HIA Poland Fellowship 2015

Poles – Patriotic, but not Catholic?

by Hanna Pieńczykowska

In order to understand the world surrounding you, you have to know first who you are. And in order to understand the country, you need to explore the history.  We started this long journey from discussing the national identity of Poles resulting from the Catholic and post-war Communist past. Where are we in that landscape?

Identity is a complex phenomenon. On one hand everyone of us can give a quick answer to the question „who you are?“, but then if you start thinking that answer often seems to be a snap judgement. When you start analyzing, you forget about the lunch, as we almost did.

As Poland is our case study, talking about Polish identity we focused on the factors which influenced Poles in past centuries, first of all in the 19th century which was crucial for the idea and establishment of ethnic states. Poland was partitioned at the end of the 18th century and there was no Polish state structure or authority in that time, so Polish people had to look for another unifying factor.  As Roman-Catholic confession had been influencing the Polish culture since the baptism of Mieszko I in the 10th century and was in a clear opposition to Orthodox tsars in Russia and protestant rulers of Prussia, the religion became one of the factors of recognizing the in- and outgroup.

After the Republic of Poland was reestablished 1918, it was not a religiously homogenous country. Although it was pretty multicultural and multi-religious (with only 60% of Poles – still, the majority), the Roman-Catholic bishops for some reason considered themselves as the most important religious leaders. They cooperated very strongly with the Nationalist Party and probably that was one of the reasons for which they were persecuted both during the Nazi occupation and Socialist period of Polish history. After the World War II, when the Polish borders were moved to the West, it turned out that over 90% of the population were Catholic.  The regime was against such a religious majority (in GDR the Communists persecuted protestants and in Azerbaijan – Muslims), but the Church had structures enabling mild opposition against the system and offered safe space for intellectuals and others, even non-believers where they could. Therefore, the transformation was partially initiated by the Church and its great figures as the Primate Wyszyński or the Pope, John Paul II.  

Since the transition the leaders of the Polish Roman-Catholic Church have seemed to not be aware of the fact that the state and public institutions are not the citizen’s enemies anymore, and still usurp a slightly political role and want to influence the public debate on many issues, e.g. abortion or curricula at school. Although the Roman-Catholic Church is co-financed by the state and benefits from many privileges resulting from the Concordat (international treaty with Vatican), the bishops and conservative Catholics dream about imposing their outlooks on non-believers and religious minorities.   

Archbishop Hoser not only suggested excommuncation for those women who undergo the in vitro fertilization, but also said that Polish Constitution allows violations of human dignity. On the other hand his presence in Rwanda during the genocide and the bystander’s role haven't been cleared until now.

At the same time, the Polish striving for a Polish national state has never been beneficial for minorities, let it be religious or ethnic. For this reason some minorities decided to cooperate with the occupant empires during the partitions or with the Socialist regime. That’s another subconscious reason to identify Polishness with Catholicism, even now.

The history of Polish Roman-Catholic Church,presented to us by Sebastian Duda and Prof. Tadeusz Zieliński was a trigger of our fellow discussion on national identity and patriotism. We agreed on the approach that it is something subjective and constructed, but as we were talking about patriotism also, from different points of view: is patriotism connected to conservative values and serving in the army or is paying taxes as much patriotic as dying for the Fatherland used to be? Is it maybe more of an obstacle in contacts with other national groups or majorities? To what extent is patriotism or strong identification with nationality possible if you’re a member of a minority? Can an LGBTQ person be recognized by others as a patriot?

Robert Biedroń - a queer politician. He started his political engagement as LGBT activist, next he was a Member of the Parliament, now he's the Mayor of Słupsk, but there is also speculation about him running in the presidential elections 2020.

For many questions we just couldn’t find an answer, but maybe there is no need to answer that questions in general. National identity is something private and individual, which is interesting to explore, but impossible to decide on for everyone else.  Having written all of that, I think I should disclose my identity: Catholic, non-practicing, yet grateful to my parents that they baptised me, 100% Polish, although people tend to doubt it as I also say that I am European and criticize the Church.

It’s always a little bit complex.